color and design...

Spring.

or

Snow?

BeginAgain

2010

natalie.

Trees so beautiful...

TREES SO BEAUTIFUL

they bring tears to your eyes

People that know me, say I am a wanna-be-girl-scout, earning my badges just a little later in life than the typical girl scout age group.  I wanna camp whenever I travel.  I have never seen the California Redwoods.  I love girls' crafts nite.  Let's all sew together!  Can we pitch the tent in the den?  You know.

That sort of thing.

So when friends wanted to come house sit, Buddy asked if we could go do girl scout things.

But here is my thought for you today.

What type of life must a person have lived.....

...trees so beautiful that they bring tears to your eyes...

Certainly, 

one must live

a life of

conviction

determination

and

strength

to be worthy 

of

a whole

redwood

grove

named in your honour...

what type of life must a person have lived to be worthy of this?

BeginAgain.

Natalie.

California Spring

It really is spring in California.

Buddy and I took our first camp trip this weekend, and if you follow beyondthereef on facebook as a fan, you'll realize it was his very first camp trip.

When you live "in the city", getting out into the hills is a real treat.  

For just a few hours of driving, you are rewarded with a whole new set of flowers, scrub, birds, and people.  It's really a treat.  I would suggest being a tourist in your own state, if you have a chance.

For Buddy, it meant a tent, eating in the tent, watching prairie dogs and birds and squirrels and all sorts of things he could never ever catch.

For me, it is a whole new file of flowers and blooms to applique.

And while they may not be tropical, or Hawaiian, the shapes and the structure will lend themselves beautifully to that Hawaiian fabric.

Finally.

I thot you'd like to see some of Buddy's camping pics.

And last but not least, I hope you can see it...

Buddy and a Prairie Dog

(I think.  Or maybe a really small gopher?  Look just 'lower of center' and above the clump of dirt to the right of Buddy's right elbow)

Good dog, Buddy.

BeginAgain.

2010

Black Wicker

I said I would share....

here ya go.

BeginAgain

2010

natalie.

White Wicker - and being 14 again...

White wicker.

It just reminds me of being 14 and having my own room.

I have had these chairs in storage for....well....a long time.

Oh, wait, what's that I see.

Primer and black paint?????

Yup.

Old fashioned antique black wicker

on a modern silhouette?

With that - oh, that color red/orange/terracotta chinoiserie color of....with black?

Stay tuned for the final interiors photo - you're gonna love it.

and.

Here are the cushions...

Hey.  

A girl has gotta do what a girl has gotta do!

One can't stay 14 forever, no matter how hard we try.

One day we gotta grow out of it.
Or as that fabulous Jeff Silbar song lyric goes,
"Get over it...you know life is to long to go on like this..."

Stay tuned.

BeginAgain

2010

natalie.

Other Peoples' Fabrics

There is just something about other peoples' fabrics that make you love them more than your own.

Even if they are the same exact shades and colors of your own.

That Kona Cotton?  That Kona Crush?  Those Robert Kaufman geometrics? 

Mine.

But when the bee beautiful March package came in the mail....

Well, heck.

I gotta tell ya.

I love these colors, and grey has become "my new black", as you all know. 

I mean, cmmon.  This is a quilt top I made in December for the kits we introduced at Road to California.

But still.  It was other peoples' fabrics!!!

(see the bee beautiful blog on this very same topic)

Then came that moment that I realized the instructions called only for right angles.

Huh?

So I went to the drawing board, and took more fabrics out of that delicious package of 10" squares that Julie brought me, and started experimenting.  And now it's March 11 and I'm still experimenting.

One of my 'correspondence quilting friends' said, about the block above,

"I think you just need more of these blocks..."

I dunno.

I have one more 'right angle' trick up my sleeve before I cut into those beautiful

"other people's fabric"

I'm gonna work on that idea, and post it tomorrow.

In the mean time,

I'm all ears if you have any 'right angle' suggestions!

Until then, whether you're enjoying other peoples' fabrics or enjoying your own,

enjoy.

BeginAgain.

2010

Natalie.

CelticLady's Reviews: Heart Of Stone by Jill Marie Landis Review, Blogpost and Giveaway

Our thanks go out to Jill Marie Landis, Author and Friend, for including a little bit about beyond the reef in her discussion about her new book!!

Let's say thanks by purchasing and reading her book!!

Aloha Jill -

Natalie.

CelticLady's Reviews: Heart Of Stone by Jill Marie Landis Review, Blogpost and Giveaway